Thursday, 21 April 2011

Arsenal will need to part with at least £13million if they want to solve their goalscoring crisis with Papiss Demba Cisse.Arsene Wenger’s side have scored just seven goals in their last seven games – a poor return for their usually prolific free-flowing football – and have all but surrendered the title to Manchester United.Meanwhile, Freiburg’s 25-year-old striker has scored 20 goals in 28 Bundesliga appearances this season putting the Senegalese forward at the top of a number of Europe’s top sides’ shopping list.But German newspaper TZ claims the club has told anyone interested in the striker not to waste their time with any bids below £13m.

SOURCE: talkSPORT

Whilst there is no denying that Papiss Demba Cisse is in a rich vein of formit is also true that the Senegal international striker is a player that most football supporters had not have heard of prior to his Bundesliga exploits this term.

Arsene Wenger is known for opting to cut costs by spending relatively small amounts on rough diamonds that he can then hone into the finished polished article and it’s a process that may help Arsenal to keep the club on a sound financial footing, however it does require these players longer to bed in than established stars, which has in some ways left the North London club to be in a continual state of transition.

25 year Cisse has done fantastically well this season but it is worth noting that prior to this term the Dakar born striker had scored a grand total of six top tier goals having previously played predominantly in France’s Ligue 2.

Wenger is also tracking £9m rated Lorient forward Kevin Gameiro who has been very consistent over the past three seasons and is currently the second top scorer in France’s top tier, again though, he is not a big name. Clearly Arsenal have bought Laurent Koscielny from the same club last summer, could that signing be considered a success? Perhaps a month ago it could’ve been but the Frenchman has been shaky of late.

There has been much speculation that the Gunners boss is keen to chop and change his front line and such action seems much needed. Nicklas Bendtner and Carlos Vela may be offloaded and there is even talk of a return to France for Marouane Chamakh, the Moroccan started the season with a bang but has looked out of his depth since November.

Arsenal supporters would probably like to see the club chase relative big names, maybe an offer for the likes of Karim Benzema, but Wenger seems happy to continue his tried and tested pattern of expenditure and in the main that plan of action has been a huge success but after six seasons without silverware, as it may well turn out to be, perhaps it’s time for the Emirates Stadium side to look for immediate returns on their investments?